Insurance V Banks

Match report Insurance

United Banks put out a stronger team than they had done for a number of years and, in fact, arrived with more than 16 players! Dave Chambers and I both intended to be non-playing captains and, although their board 14 had not arrived, John Skipworth left early, as Dave Chambers could step in, if need be. United Banks won the toss and chose white on odds. They outgraded us on the top boards, but we generally outgraded them on the other boards, with 12 players graded over 150. Ray Hamilton and Kevin Parrott had come into the team at short notice and, as I couldn’t expect either to step in with a time deficit if any of our players failed to turn up, I arranged that they would both play, and that I’d be, I hoped, non-playing captain. The United Banks board 14 failed to appear, so Dave Chambers stepped in with a half-hour deficit. Unfortunately our player who failed to appear was Mark Rich, who was to have played on board 2! He had been taken ill and had gone home early, but forgot to tell me! He phoned the next morning to apologise. Brian Atkinson drew early on against Mike Jones, followed by John Philpott. Stephen Humphrey could not make his time advantage count against Dave Chambers, and drew, as did David Malcolm and Paul Barclay, followed by Julian Farrand on top board. David Sedgwick then spoilt the sequence, by winning, but Martin Page and Tony Paish re-established it, by also drawing. I eventually found the challenge of doing 30 moves in 45 minutes against a 190 on board 2 too daunting, getting mated on move 30. I felt I had improved my position, though my king was stuck in the corner. My opponent then sacrificed a rook, which I took, but I should then have given up my queen for a knight, avoiding the mate, though the ending would probably have been lost anyway. With my flag about to fall I didn’t have time to see this! This restored the equilibrium of the match, with one win each and eight draws! The match could have gone either way in the quickplay finish, as most of the games left looked pretty even, but Ian Calvert won and Ian Reynolds, Kevin Parrott and Ray Hamilton drew. In a tense finish Ian Hunnable and Brian Valentine, making a rare appearance for us, both won, giving us what appeared to be, but was not, a comfortable 9½-6½ win, with four wins, one loss and eleven draws! It was good, for the future of the Bronowski Trophy competition, to see United Banks putting out a stronger side, with all 16 games being played and being sharply contested. I wish them the best of luck against Commercial on 25 January – I hope they get out an even stronger side! -- Geoff Naldrett https://bronowskitrophy.wordpress.com/records/competitions/2004-2005/

Daniel Lindner

Draws

This is believed to be the largest number of draws in a single Bronowski fixture – at least since we have been playing over 16 boards. I have not yet had a chance to do the research, but it’s a pretty safe bet -- Ian Hunnable

Daniel Lindner